Salvatore "Toto" Riina — the long-time "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia who was serving 26 life sentences related to dozens of murders he orchestrated — died at an Italian hospital prison ward on November 17.

His death, a day after his 87th birthday, puts the spotlight back on Cosa Nostra, which waged a bloody campaign in the 1980s and 1990s to counter Italy's crackdown on the Mafia.

Cosa Nostra only lost its pre-eminence as its top bosses were captured and became turncoats, helping give rise in recent decades to the powerful Calabrian 'Ndrangheta crime group.

Here are five things to know about Riina and the Sicilian Mafia he once ruthlessly controlled:

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The cradle of Cosa Nostra

Corleone, once baptized as the mafia capital of the world for giving birth to the "boss of bosses," Salvatore Toto Riina of the Corleone clan, in Sicily, in 2000. The Rock of Corleone (La Rocca Di Corleone) is at center.
(AP Photo/Corrado Giambalvo)

The Italian town of Corleone, Riina's birthplace, has been Cosa Nostra's stronghold during both his reign and that of reputed chieftain Bernardo Provenzano, who died last year a decade after his capture in Sicily following some 40 years of hiding in the countryside near the hill town.

The town inspired the fictional crime clan's name in "The Godfather" novel and hit movies. The Italian government last year dissolved Corleone's municipal government on suspicion that Mafiosi had infiltrated it. Using intimidation tactics, the Cosa Nostra frequently influences decisions and public contract bidding and delivers votes, prompting some politicians to curry the mob's favor.

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Beware the nickname

A police officer walks by the charred remains of a car bomb that killed Sicily's top anti-Mafia investigator, Paolo Borsellino, and his bodyguards, July 19, 1992.
(AP Photo/Alessandro Fucarini)

Mafia "dons" all sport colorful nicknames, many in the Sicilian dialect. Salvatore "Toto" Riina was no exception.

Recognized as the "boss of bosses" of the Cosa Nostra, he was also known as "The Beast (La Belva)" for the ruthless bloodbaths he instigated against anti-Mafia prosecutors and law enforcement. Those included the 1992 murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He also was known as "u curto," Sicilian for "the short one," for his physical stature.

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A power struggle is unleashed

A photo reproduction of a computer-generated image of Mafia top-boss contender Matteo Messina Denaro released by Italian police, shown at the Palermo police headquarters, April 6, 2007.
AP Images

Top anti-Mafia prosecutors say Riina's death is sure to spark a power struggle in the Sicilian Mafia, even if the strict terms of his imprisonment would have prevented him from exercising day-to-day control for the last 24 years.

Prosecutors won't discuss who they think the top contenders might be, but long-time Cosa Nostra fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro remains Italy's most-wanted Mafioso. The 55-year-old, whose power base is in Trapani, in western Sicily, has evaded arrest since 1993. He is wanted for his role in the bombing assassination of magistrates in the 1990s as well as other Mafia hits and crimes.

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Family ties

Giuseppe Salvatore Riina, left, the son of the most feared Sicilian Mafia boss, leaves a prison in Sulmona, central Italy, February 28, 2008.
Thomson Reuters

Riina had four children. Giovanni is serving life sentence for four murders, while Giuseppe Salvatore "Salvo" Riina is under special surveillance in Padua after serving an eight-year sentence for Mafia association. Salvo Riina made news in recent years for a prime-time interview on RAI state television and then for traveling to Corleone, against the terms of his prison release, to serve as godfather, against Vatican rules, for a niece. One daughter remains in Corleone, while a second has relocated to Puglia, according to Italian media.

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The Cosa Nostra today

Italian police pose with cocaine found floating at sea near southern Italy, believed to be a shipment organized by the ’Ndrangheta crime group.
Guardia di Finanza di Reggio Calabria

During Riina's day, the Cosa Nostra was the most powerful of the Italian crime syndicates, controlling an international heroin smuggling ring and declaring war on the Italian government with a bloody campaign against anti-Mafia magistrates.

The Cosa Nostra has lost pre-eminence in recent years, due in part to the state crackdown that either jailed or forced top bosses to hide, giving rise to the 'Ndrangheta, which has infiltrated businesses in affluent northern Italy.

Some progress has been made in the battle for hearts and minds, with young people in Sicily inspiring many shopkeepers and industrialists there to stop paying the Cosa Nostra protection money. Still, prosecutors say there are signs that Sicily's Cosa Nostra is again gathering strength.